Stray Thought
by gelowo93
Summary: Series of one shots exploring the beginning of Victoire and Teddy's relationship. First chapter was written for the fandoms4ME fundraiser and I've continued it from there.
1. Chapter 1

**I wrote this for the fandoms4ME fundraiser, which I think ended up raising $571.50 for ME research charities, surpassing their goal of $500.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any associated characters. They belong to JK Rowling and Warner Bros.**

****Stray Thought

It was nearing one o'clock in the morning, meaning that, on a normal night, the Gryffindor common room would be empty, and sneaking across and out the Fat Lady's portrait would be a breeze. However, this week was O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. week, and, most nights, the common room hadn't emptied of studious fifth and seventh years until nearly two in the morning. With Prefects and the Head Boy staying up until the early hours of the morning, it had been difficult for Victoire Weasley to sneak out at night. Of course, she had been revising hard for her own O.W.L.s as well, but her life didn't revolve around her schoolwork. No, like many sixteen year old girls, boys were often at the forefront of Victoire's mind, and sneaking out to meet them at the top of the Astronomy tower added the thrill that the possibility of getting caught created.

She was stood at the bottom of the staircase to the girl's dormitories now, staying in the shadows just in case someone was still awake. She didn't think there was though; the only noise was the crackling of the dying fire, which sounded alien without the accompanying scratching of quills and incantations murmured under the breaths of students trying to memorise them that Victoire had grown used to. The candles had long since burnt out and the room was illuminated only by the feeble light of the fire and a strip of moonlight that had managed to permeate the clouds for the moment.

Victoire stepped out of the shadows slowly and silently, just in case she had been wrong and there was someone still awake, or had fallen asleep in their chair. She tip-toed across the common room, making as little noise as possible and longing for Uncle Harry's Invisibility Cloak; it would make sneaking around the castle so much easier. She needn't have the Cloak though, Victoire would be grateful to have the Map that she knew Teddy kept locked in his trunk in his dormitory, but it was too risky sneaking into the seventh year boy's dorm. Victoire would have to do without, and it wasn't like these items were necessary – she had been walking around the castle after dark for five years without them.

She was almost at the portrait hole when, in the near darkness, Victoire stepped on something squishy that she hadn't spotted. There was a loud screech followed by the sound of a cat moving to a safer spot. Victoire cursed herself as she recognised the bright yellow eyes of Maurice, Dominique's cat. The cat hissed at Victoire, who hissed back, until a light appeared behind her.

Spinning round, Victoire was blinded by the dazzling light coming from the wand tip. Her heart sank at being caught trying to sneak out, something that she had managed to avoid before now, but still she hoped that it would be some student she had woken up, and not…

"Vicky? What are you doing?" came a familiar voice from one of the high backed chairs that faced towards the portrait hole and away from the staircases to the dormitories. Victoire had to blink a few times before her eyes adjusted to the sudden light and she saw Teddy Lupin looking blearily up at her. His hair was his favourite shade of turquoise and was short enough so that his fringe didn't block his vision. The rest of him seemed to be un-metamorphmagised; brown eyes stood out on his thin face with sharp cheekbones.

_Damn_, Victoire thought, her stomach plummeting, though at the same time, her heart seemed to skip a beat. She should have known to check those chairs; whenever Teddy stayed up late studying he sat there – probably because it was hard to tell if anyone was sat in them from behind. Teddy took his Head Boy duties seriously.

Victoire scowled. "You know I hate people calling me Vicky."

"That's why I use it," laughed Teddy. "What are you doing up? Don't make me give you a detention."

"I'm not doing anything," Victoire said as innocently as she could, batting her eyelashes and smiling sweetly.

"You can't use your Veela charm on me, Vic." Teddy glanced away, breaking eye contact with her and focusing instead on the textbook on the table in front of him.

"It's worth a try. How come you're still down here?" Victoire walked towards the table Teddy was sat at and joining him, sitting down on a chair beside him. She could feel Maurice's eyes on her as she turned her back and knew that the cat, that wasn't particularly fond of her anyway, was probably plotting some form of kitty-revenge.

"Fell asleep while I was studying, then that cat woke me up. What did you do to it?"

"I might have stood on it – by accident!" added Victoire at Teddy's horrified look. "I don't hate Maurice that much."

"Ah, I didn't know it was him. Shame, I swear he hates me and I've never done anything to him."

"It's a demon cat."

"Don't let Dominique hear you calling him that."

"I won't. I can defend myself against her anyway."

"That's probably true." Victoire watched as Teddy's eyes scanned the textbook and turned the page over. Before Victoire had a chance to read the title on the next page, Teddy had slammed the book shut, making her jump slightly.

"Sorry." Teddy grinned sheepishly. "I've got fed up of revising."

"That wasn't being fed up of revising; it was more like the book had personally offended you." Victoire was slightly shocked that Teddy could get that angry at a book, normally he treated them like one would treat their first born son. Grimacing slightly, Teddy opened the book again at the page he had been on, allowing Victoire the chance to see the chapter title.

Werewolves. Now Victoire understood why his mood had switched so suddenly. She quickly scanned the first page; it wasn't just how to recognise them like she had had to learn, but methods on how to subdue them and discussion on whether they deserve the same rights as humans, with only the tiniest paragraph at the bottom on the Wolfsbane potion.

Even after the pro-werewolf laws that the Ministry had passed since Voldemort's downfall, they were still a contentious topic and sometimes Victoire got roped into discussions on the politics – after all, almost her entire family were in support of the werewolves. She had become interested in it herself after finding out that her father had been attacked by a werewolf, and Teddy's father had been one.

Victoire knew that Teddy was occasionally discriminated against because of his father. Sometime when the campaigns for werewolf rights were in full swing after the second war, it had become publicly known that Teddy was half-werewolf and, while it helped in the argument for the pro-werewolf laws (as it was obvious that he didn't exhibit any werewolf qualities), people's opinions were difficult to change and, as a result, he often got given a wide berth in the street.

Knowing that the topic upset Teddy – though he'd never admit it - Victoire thought it best to steer the conversation away from it:

"When's your last exam?"

Teddy glanced at his watch. "Technically, tomorrow. I've got Defence Against the Dark Arts theory this afternoon and the practical tomorrow." It was hard to tell in the dim common room, but Victoire thought that Teddy's face had gone pale.

"That's OK, isn't it? You're good at Defence, and isn't Uncle Harry going to be at the practical session this year?"

Ever since he had become head of the Auror department, Uncle Harry had taken to presiding over the N.E.W.T. Defence Against the Dark Arts practical exam if he wasn't too busy. He normally did it under the excuse that he was assessing students who had expressed an interest in joining the Auror force, but Victoire knew that he would have found time to do it this year whether any seventh years wanted to be an Auror or not.

"That's why I'm worried about it; he'll be expecting me to get full marks or something and I don't think I'm that good."

Teddy spoke casually about his worry, but he was avoiding looking at Victoire now and she could tell that it was bothering him more than he let on.

"You'll be fine. And if you don't think it's going well you can always do a Patronus Charm."

"The examiners will probably be wondering where I learnt how to do one instead of being impressed by it."

"It's not even taught here, how could they not be impressed by it?"

Teddy smiled, but said nothing.

Victoire leaned her head against the back of the chair. Her eyelids were beginning to droop and she let them. The stresses of the last week were catching up with her, and she felt like she could quite happily fall asleep in the chair. It was comfortable sitting beside the still glowing fire, with Teddy beside her. Through her eyelashes, Victoire watched as Teddy looked down at his book again, playing with his quill in one hand. Her stomach squirmed as she watched and she wondered how it would feel to have Teddy's arms around her…

That last thought jerked Victoire's mind, which had become slightly fuzzy, back into gear. She didn't think of Teddy like that, they were friends, they had always been friends – well, apart from when they were children and they'd fight and think the other had cooties. Being the oldest of the Weasley-Potter children (Teddy was considered by everyone to be an honorary Potter) they had stuck together a lot, especially as for a long time he had been the only person of a similar age apart from her siblings that she knew. She had never thought of him like _that_.

"Weren't you going somewhere?" Teddy's voice interrupted Victoire's thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"You were sneaking out before. Where were you going?"

"Oh, just, erm," Victoire was suddenly embarrassed to admit to him where she had been going. She stole a glance at Teddy's watch and was surprised to see that she was supposed to have been at the Astronomy Tower half an hour ago. Joel probably would have given up and left by now.

"Meeting another boyfriend?" Teddy teased. "You'll have to hurry up if you want to still catch him."

"He'll have gone by now. It doesn't matter, I didn't like him that much anyway."

"What are you going to do when you've broken the hearts of all the boys in your year?"

Victoire snorted. "All of the boys in my year are idiots. They move onto the next girl before they've stopped to wipe the lipstick off their face. And I suppose I'd have to start on the year above."

"Thank Merlin I'm leaving then."

"You're two years above, you'd be safe anyway." Victoire stuck her tongue out at Teddy.

"Better safe than sorry," grinned Teddy and he looked back down at his textbook, as if he was feebly attempting to carry on studying.

There was silence for a moment, while Victoire watched as Teddy's eyes darted across the page in front of him.

"It'll be weird without you here," Victoire said, finally. "You've always been here."

"You'll get used to it." Teddy didn't look up from the book. "I haven't always been here, only for seven years."

"You've always been here when I was here, then. There's no need to be so specific."

Teddy's lips tugged upwards in a half smile, but his eyes stayed on the book. Victoire watched him as he read, she could see the reflection of the glowing fire in his eyes and his hair was gradually turning a darker shade of blue, until it was brown. Teddy yawned.

"I give up." Teddy closed his book. "If I don't know it now then I never will."

"I could test you on it," offered Victoire.

"No, it's ok. I'm going to bed." He looked at Victoire as he packed up his textbooks and stood up, attempting a stern look and failing miserably; Victoire couldn't take Teddy seriously whenever he acted like a Head Boy. She laughed.

"What?" Teddy asked.

"Nothing. You know I can't take you seriously when you do that look."

"Ah well, I've only got another month of failing at being Head Boy," said Teddy as Victoire stood up and they made their way together to the staircases that led up to the dormitories.

"You're not that bad, really."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Goodnight," Victoire said, stepping onto the staircase.

"'Night."

* * *

><p><strong>Read &amp; review<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**A few people requested that I carried this on, so I am doing. I have it planned to be about five one-shots showing Teddy & Victoire's relationship up to the scene in the Epilogue, including this and the previous chapter. So, enjoy!**

It was over.

Teddy held his head high as he walked out of the Great Hall. He caught Uncle Harry's eye, who was standing to one side of the double doors that led to the Entrance Hall, overseeing the N.E.W.T. exam. Uncle Harry gave Teddy a curt nod, before a grin stretched over his face. Teddy gave him a small smile back in response, his nerves from the exam having not faded away completely yet, and feeling like he would throw up if he tried to do anything else.

Fortunately, Uncle Harry didn't try to engage Teddy in a conversation as he left the Hall, and Teddy understood it as Harry trying to remain professional, rather than sparing him the inevitable and maddening questioning of how he thought he'd done. No, Teddy would most likely still get that conversation later, once Harry had finished with his self-imposed Auror duties, even though he was sure that Harry knew how he had done and would just be doing it so that he could smile mysteriously when Teddy shared his thoughts on the exam. Teddy shook his head. _Adults_.

As soon as Teddy stepped out of the Great Hall, he spotted three of his best friends hovering by the foot of the Grand Staircase. They all looked over to him at the sound of the doors opening and closing, and while Garrett waved him over, Isaac and Diana barely glanced at him before turning back to face each other and carrying on their conversation in muted yet annoyed voices. Teddy raised an eyebrow at Garrett, who shrugged.

"Lover's spat," was all he gave as an explanation. "How was it?"

Teddy groaned; someone really needed to make it illegal to be asked about an exam as soon as it had finished.

"Could have been worse. I'd rather just forget about it than relive it in my head."

"Fair enough." Garrett turned to the quarrelling couple, "Are you two finished yet?"

Isaac paused mid-sentence to glare at Garrett, but he didn't have the time to respond before Diana hit him over the head, drawing his attention back to her. Teddy winced in sympathy for his friend.

"Was Harry there, then?" asked Garrett.

"Yeah, of course he was, I didn't get to speak to him though. I'm sure he'll find me later so he can chat to me, I can get you his autograph then if you want."

"I don't – I've never wanted – You always – Argh," Garrett spluttered while Teddy snickered in amusement. It was a running joke that Garrett was only friends with Teddy because he wanted to meet his Godfather, and, although he had never downright asked for Teddy to get him his autograph, it was all Garrett had talked about back in First year and the joke had stuck long after he had grown past his fixation with The Boy Who Lived. It had made Teddy uncomfortable at first, but by now he was used to being approached by people who only wanted to talk to him because of his famous connections, and he was able to recognise that that wasn't the case with Garrett.

"He won't mind if you come with me later, you know. He's used to people wanting autographs and what not. Maybe this time I won't have to speak for you."

Garrett did his best to act disinterested, and all he said was, "No thanks."

"Really? I thought –"

"You thought wrong."

"But –"

"Shut up."

Teddy grinned, but decided not to push it further. Garrett had a rather short temper, and while he might not have taken N.E.W.T. level Defence Against the Dark Arts, he excelled at Transfiguration and Teddy didn't fancy being turned into an ant and stepped on.

The doors to the Great Hall creaked open then, and the four of them glanced over to see the fifth member of their little group of friends walking towards them shakily and looking rather too pale to be healthy.

Seeing Alison like that was enough to stop Isaac and Diana arguing, and Teddy walked to meet Alison, embracing her in a hug when he reached her.

"What's the matter? What happened?"

Alison let out a shaky laugh. "Honestly, Teddy, the way you say that makes it sound like something terrible happened."

"You look like something terrible happened, so what was it?"

Alison pulled away and punched him lightly on the shoulder. "Just… I think I messed up. A lot."

"You'll have done fine. It's only fifty-per cent of the mark, and you can drown your sorrows tonight," Isaac said.

"I can?"

"Sure. Party tonight in the Common Room, it's all set."

Alison seemed to cheer up slightly at this – she couldn't resist a good House party – but Teddy saw Diana's lips tighten and he guessed that this was what she and Isaac had been arguing about.

Not wanting the argument to pick up again now that it had abated for the moment, Teddy spoke up,

"Come on, there's no need to hang around here. I feel like I've not been outside in weeks."

"I don't think you have, you're as bad as Di. I've only spoke to her in whispers for weeks because she's always been in the library," said Alison.

Together, the small group made their way outside and across the school grounds. Teddy relished the feel of the sun on his skin, and breathing in the fresh air after weeks of reading dusty tomes by candlelight. It seemed as though even the weather was celebrating the end of exams; there wasn't a cloud in the sky, which had resulted in the majority of students abandoning their common rooms to sit outside and enjoy the rarity that was the Scottish sunshine.

The five of them came to a stop near to an old beech tree, and Teddy collapsed onto the soil beneath its branches. Di and Isaac sat down, leaning against the trunk of the tree and seemingly resumed the conversation they had been having before Teddy had joined them in the Entrance Hall. Not wanting to intrude on their quarrel, Alison and Garratt sat closer to Teddy than to Di and Isaac.

It wasn't exactly uncommon for Di and Isaac to be having an argument of some kind, in fact, it was a biweekly occurrence. Teddy let their voices become background noise, joining the whisper of the leaves on the trees as a light breeze passed over them, the voices drifting over from the lakeside, and the soft lapping of waves as they reached the shore of the lake. The occasional shriek filled the air whenever the giant squid playfully wrapped a tentacle around the foot of an unsuspecting student cooling their feet in the lake, but apart from that, Teddy had never felt so much at peace. His exams were finally over, signalling the end of his Hogwarts career, and he had the upcoming week to relax before he would be boarding the Hogwarts Express for the last time and forced into the outside world to look for a job.

Teddy fully intended to make the most of the stress free week ahead of him.

Garratt and Alison had started discussing the party that had been planned for that night, fortunately not including Teddy in the conversation. He wasn't the strictest of Head Boys, and he would be attending the party, but he felt that he was pushing it if he was actively involved in planning it. He had already planned his excuse if one of the teachers crashed the party (which was that, obviously there was going to be a party whether he approved of it or not, so surely it was better if it was held in the common room where he would be there to put a stop to it if it got out of hand), though whether any teacher who caught them would believe him was another matter.

So instead, Teddy watched the nearby students. A small group were sat in a circle on the grass, playing exploding snap, while two students playing chess glared at them whenever the playing cards blew up. A couple of boys had taken their robes off and were swimming in the lake, quite obviously trying to impress the girls sat at the edge who were blatantly ignoring them, preferring to listen to the wireless that they had brought outside.

Teddy watched as the castle's front doors opened and a group of about six or seven students walked out. Even from this far away, Teddy could hear their laughter, and he watched them cross the grounds, talking and joking amongst themselves. It was only when they were passing close to where their little group was sat, did Teddy realise that the group included Victoire.

Her head was thrown back mid-laugh, her strawberry blonde hair falling to her waist like a curtain of shining material, reflecting the sunlight and making it painful to look at. Victoire walked with an easy grace, and as Teddy watched, she picked up her pace to walk with one of her friends who was leading the group. Teddy was transfixed by the way she walked, how her robes rippled with each step she took, her hair swaying in the light breeze; he couldn't take his eyes off her.

It was then that Victoire glanced around her, almost as if she had sensed Teddy's gaze. She waved at him, smiling briefly. It took Teddy longer than it should have to remember to wave back, and he barely raised his arm before Victoire had turned back to talk to her friend.

"Teddy?" The voice brought Teddy back to Earth, and he shook his head in an attempt to clear his head. As he did so, he noticed that he wasn't the only male staring in the direction of Victoire and her friends.

"Yes?" He said, trying not to make it seem like he had just been caught staring.

"Are you ok?" Alison asked.

"I'm fine." Teddy hoped that his tone of voice would make it clear that he didn't want the questioning to be continued. It must have done, because Alison carried on with the conversation she had been having, and Teddy put more effort into paying attention to what was being said.

Damn that Veela charm. Teddy would be having words with Victoire about using it in public.

-o-

It was nearing midnight, though if Teddy thought he'd be able to hear the clocks chime twelve he was very much mistaken.

The Gryffindor house end of exams party was in full swing, and there was no intention of it dying down anytime soon. The common room was filled with people shouting in order to make themselves heard over the music being blasted out of the old wireless that looked like it had been there during Teddy's father's time at Hogwarts. People dancing filled up every corner of the room, and any space that miraculously wasn't, was usually occupied by someone vomiting into a plant pot. Teddy felt a pang of guilt at seeing a number of students from different houses pass him, thinking that they could have sneaked Garrett and Di in somehow, if others had managed it. But that uneasiness in his stomach disappeared once he took another swig from the bottle of firewhiskey he was carrying and he tried to focus on more pressing problems.

Like where the hell Isaac had got himself lost.

Di was going to hex him into next week if she ever found out that Teddy had lost him, which didn't seem to be as terrifying a thought to Teddy as it would have been had he not been on his fifth bottle of the night. Teddy and Alison had promised to keep an eye on Isaac – Merlin knew he couldn't handle his drink – but the last time Teddy had seen Alison she had been glued at the lips to a sixth year Ravenclaw who had manage to get in, and they were both now suspiciously absent from the common room. This left the job of keeping Isaac safe to Teddy.

Teddy swore. He was dead. He was actually dead. This would be his last night living if he didn't find Isaac immediately. He glanced around at the couples kissing, making sure that none of them involved Isaac (if they did, then Teddy would be having a joint funeral). Next, he made a round of all the vomiting students on the floor, and after that, Teddy checked the bathrooms. Only one was occupied, and Teddy had barely opened the door when he shut it again, definitely not wanting to hang around to watch what the couple in there were doing.

Giving up, Teddy sat down on the stairs leading up to the boys' dormitories and contemplated his impending doom.

"You look like you've been sentenced to life in Azkaban," a voice said.

Teddy looked up to find Victoire blearily looking down at him, a bottle in her hand.

"I'm going to die."

"When's this going to happen?"

"Dunno. Whenever Di finds out I lost Isaac."

"You're safe for tonight, though, right?" Teddy nodded. "Might as well enjoy it while you can, then."

Victoire pulled Teddy up with her free hand, surprisingly steady considering that she was slurring her words ever so slightly and looked like she would topple over in the high heels she was wearing if she tried to walk anywhere.

Teddy allowed her to drag him halfway across the common room until they found a gap in the crowd that wasn't occupied by dancing students, couples making out, or someone on the floor vomiting. He took a sip from his bottle of firewhiskey, using it as a cover so he could get a proper look at Victoire. Her hair had been tied up in a loose bun, with stray hairs framing her face – whether that was intentional or the hair had become loose sometime during the night Teddy couldn't tell, but he couldn't deny that it framed her round face perfectly… her face that was practically radiating, with eyes of a pleasant sky blue looking up at him.

Teddy shook his head, trying to clear it.

"Not fair, Vic." Teddy had to shout so she would hear.

"What's not fair?" She shouted back.

"Veela charm. Making unsuspecting males who have known you since you were in nappies want to do things that will get them killed by half your family. You did it this afternoon when I saw you outside, too."

Even in the dim lighting, Teddy saw Victoire blush, and he knew that he'd got her.

"It's not cool, Vic. What's the difference between that and sneaking love potions into everyone's drinks?"

Teddy started to move away, but Victoire grabbed onto his arm, keeping him in place. Teddy looked back at her, and saw that her face and eyes had dulled to a more normal look.

"I'm sorry."

"Let me go, I have to find Isaac."

Teddy stared, hard, into Victoire's eyes until he felt her grip slacken and he pulled himself away.

He started shoving and pushing people aside, creating a path through the crowd. It was soon made easier as people started to move out of his way at Teddy's approach, not wanting to be shoved unceremoniously into anyone else. Unfortunately, this also made it easier for Victoire to follow him.

Teddy was halfway up the stairs to his dormitory when Victoire caught up to him. Her deftness at running up the steep staircase in heels made him wonder whether she had only been acting drunk the whole time. Victoire managed to side step him as he stumbled slightly on a step and when Teddy looked up she was standing one step above him.

"Are you angry with me?" Victoire asked, and Teddy was surprised to hear that she sounded timid – it must be the first time in her life that she had.

"I'm not angry, try disappointed. I knew you went through boyfriends quicker than you let your parents know, but I didn't think you'd sunk low enough to practically force them to go out with you."

Victoire's face fell into a look of complete shock, which turned to anger in a matter of milliseconds.

"I would never do anything like that!"

"Really? Because that's what it looks like."

"You've known me forever, how could you even think that? Apart from that, I've never exactly needed to force anyone to go out with me. I'm not proud of it but that's just–"

If Teddy hadn't already been suspicious about Victoire acting drunk before, he was almost certain she had been now; she had stopped slurring words in her anger and her capability to defend herself with a half decent argument was the icing on the cake.

"Why were you acting drunk? What were you actually trying to achieve with that?"

Victoire's cheeks turned red again and she stopped talking.

"I thought – I thought… I thought guys found drunk girls more attractive," mumbled Victoire, barely audible.

And in the seconds after Victoire spoke, when Teddy looked up at Victoire, he understood. The hazy fog that had been clouding his brain cleared suddenly and he saw Victoire as she was: a sixteen year old girl, trying to figure out her place in the world and making mistakes along the way. She was just a kid.

Not that Teddy could talk; he was the one leaving school and still managed to burn toast – Merlin help him when moves out and has to cook for himself. But he did have two extra years of life experience under his belt, which, at the moment, was a lot more useful than being able to cook.

"The only guys who like drunk girls are the guys who want to take advantage of you," said Teddy. "And try not to use me in your games next time, yeah? Who are you trying to make jealous, anyway?"

Victoire frowned, pausing for a second, before saying quickly, "No one."

But Teddy noticed the colour rising in her face again.

"That's fine if you don't want to tell me. You know, I'm only your oldest friend, but that doesn't matter," Teddy teased. "Can you get out of my way now? I'm not really in the mood for the party anymore, and I need to find Isaac."

"Sure, sorry." Victoire stepped to the side, letting Teddy past. The narrow staircase meant this wasn't very effective, however, and Teddy still had to turn sideways to continue up the stairs.

He climbed the rest of the way to his dormitory, briefly remembering that he'd forgotten to check the dorm on his previous search of Isaac, and hoping that he would find him here.

Teddy had turned the doorknob, and was halfway through opening the door when he heard someone shout his name and running footsteps behind him. He stopped, looking over his shoulder, and turning around completely when he saw that it was Victoire running up the stairs. He had assumed that she'd gone back to the party when he had left her, and was surprised that she was following him; there wasn't much left to talk to her about as far as he was concerned.

"I _am_ sorry. Really," panted Victoire, making her way up the last few steps before she reached the landing. As she came closer, Teddy could see that the blush hadn't faded from her cheeks. "It's just… You know when you date someone, because you suppose they're kind of cute only you don't really like them like that but you go along with it anyway because, it's just a bit of fun, yeah?" Victoire was speaking almost too quickly for Teddy's brain to process her words properly. Somehow, it did manage to keep up, and Teddy was reminded of the other night when Victoire had ditched her midnight rendezvous with a no named boyfriend. She was still speaking, however, and Teddy didn't have time to dwell on the thought if he wanted to listen to what she was saying, "Only, then you talk to someone that you've known for forever and for some reason it suddenly hits you that you do like this idiot, and you're confused about it so you spend the next day or so thinking about it, and you realise that you've probably always liked him and that was why you never felt anything for the other perfectly nice boys who weren't nerdy at all, didn't put too much stock by the rules, and _definitely_ didn't turn your hair green at your sixth birthday party. And you don't know what to do about that, so you make a fool of yourself, get him angry at you, and all that's left to do is apologise and maybe everything would be easier if you just told him."

Teddy stood, frozen in place. Victoire's words kept repeating themselves in his mind, and they distracted him enough so that he didn't notice Victoire shifting her weight from one foot to the other and biting her lip, which meant that he also didn't notice when she stopped doing these things, took a deep breath, closed the space between them, and kissed him.

Victoire's lips were soft against his own. She kissed him once, twice, her lips lingering for a second before she pulled away.

It took Teddy a few seconds for his brain to catch up with his senses, and he stared at Victoire blankly until it did. He blinked a few times, trying to think of something to say, but it seemed like his brain processes hadn't started functioning correctly yet, and all he could manage was a strangled, "That was unexpected."

Victoire looked at him, clearly having expected him to say something else – anything else, probably. She stayed silent, though, looking down at her feet occasionally, but keeping Teddy's gaze for the most part.

One of the cogs in Teddy's brain kicked into gear then, which brought back some of his vocabulary.

"I got the wrong end of the stick before, didn't I? I –" That was all Teddy managed to say before he felt the anger rising in his chest. "You were going all Veela on me before? It wasn't just a side effect of trying to get someone else's attention - Merlin's beard, Victoire!"

Victoire took a step back, and it was plain to see on her face that this wasn't what she had expected to happen.

"I already apologised for that! What more-"

"So when you said that you'd never do that to make someone like you, you were lying?" Teddy could hear his voice rising in volume; he didn't care enough to try to lower it. "It doesn't matter, it's only Teddy, he'll forgive me?"

"I didn't-"

"You just don't think about anyone else. It's always got to be about you."

"That's not true. I do care about other people, I-"

"I don't want to hear it, Vic. You couldn't think of another way to let me know this? How about just taking me to one side and talking to me, if it mattered to you that much?"

Victoire opened her mouth to argue back again, but Teddy cut her off.

"Leave me alone."

He turned his back on her, walking into his dormitory and pushing the door behind him so that it shut with a _bang._

He didn't bother glancing back to see Victoire's face.

Teddy didn't look around him as he made his way to his bed and got dressed for bed. He threw himself down on the mattress, and lay there, seething, for a long time. It was only when he had calmed down slightly that he registered the sound of someone else snoring.

Rolling over onto his side, Teddy could make out Isaac, still fully clothed, collapsed onto his bed.

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><p><strong>Don't forget to review :)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**This is taking a lot longer to write than it should be doing, and my only excuse is that I just can't get into writing it. I still want to have it finished by September though, don't know how likely that is considering that, starting next week, I'm pretty much working full time during the week, and I've started other non-fanfiction writing projects and my friends and family expect me to have a social life. Oh, and I'm going on holiday for 10 days in August, probably without my laptop. This is looking less and less promising :(**

**Anyway, I'd like to thank wandofhawthorn on tumblr for helping me on this when I got a bit stuck.**

_Teddy,_

_I know we haven't spoken much, but have a nice Christmas, and I hope you like the present._

_Victoire x_

It wasn't the best letter Victoire had ever written, in fact, it barely counted as being a letter, but Victoire had stopped caring five sheets of parchment ago. Her first attempt had been too long and rambling, the second had sounded too cheesy, the third had been ok – but then she had accidently spilled pumpkin juice on it, and when she had tried to remember what she had wrote (attempt number 4) it had sounded too forced and had ended up in the bin on top of the previous drafts. Victoire read over her latest attempt and scowled; it was too short, it didn't include anything that she really wanted to say to him, it was -

"Victoire! We're leaving, whether you want to come or not," came a shout from downstairs.

- It was going to have to do. Victoire grabbed her coat from the back of her chair, pulled it on, and quickly shoved the small present and letter into the inside pocket.

"Coming!" shouted Victoire, running down the stairs and into the kitchen.

When she entered, the rest of her family was huddled around the fireplace, and they all automatically turned around at the sound of her footsteps. Her father was crouched down in front of the flickering flames, clearly having just flooed ahead to see whether they were alright to come through. Dominique looked like she had been arguing with Louis, as their mother was stood separating them and alternating stern glances between them.

"About time," Dominque muttered, and Victoire had to use all her self-restraint to ignore her.

"What 'ave you been doing?" Her mother asked. "I told you to be ready 'alf an hour ago."

"I had to finish something."

"Were you writing a letter to your _boyfriend_?" teased Louis.

Victoire ignored him, too. Ignoring her siblings had become somewhat of a talent of hers in the past fourteen years.

"Your mother told you to be quiet, Louis," their father said. "Vic, do you want to go first?"

Victoire nodded, taking a pinch of Floo powder from the jar her father handed to her and threw it into the fire. The flames turned emerald instantly, and Victoire stepped into the fireplace, feeling them lapping at her, like strange warm tongues.

"The Burrow," she said, and her view of her family spun out of sight, replaced by swirling green flames and snatches of rooms beyond other fireplaces. The spinning made Victoire's stomach churn, until, suddenly, it stopped.

Blinking the soot out of her eyes, Victoire walked out of the fireplace she had arrived in, and into the path of three giggling mops of red hair that shrieked as they bumped into Victoire's legs. Three pairs of eyes looked up at her – two brown, one blue – and then, recognising her, the three eight year olds shouted their welcome.

"Vicky!"

"Gran! Victoire's here!"

"Vic!"

"Hello, you three," Victoire said, kneeling down and pulling Lily, Roxanne, and Lucy into one big hug. She let go quickly and moved out of the way of the fireplace just in time for her mother to come through. Her mother had just straightened up and stepped out of the way when Victoire's Gran came into view.

"Oh, you're here, Victoire. Hello, Fleur." Her Gran gave them both a quick hug, and then excused herself to carry on with the cooking as a nearby pan was boiling over. Victoire's mother joined Granny Weasley, giving Victoire a look that clearly told her to help by getting the children out of the way. Granny Weasley caught sight of it. "The rest of the kids are outside, Victoire."

"Okay, come on you three, we've got to go outside to give Gran some space." Victoire ushered the three young girls out of the back door and into the garden.

At first glance, the garden looked like it had become a battlefield. Forts had been built out of the snow that had fallen overnight, snowballs were whizzing through the air, and various pieces of winter clothing had been dropped on the ground like multi-coloured drops of blood. Victoire ducked just in time to avoid a snowball that had been thrown her way; Lily, Roxanne, and Lucy, however, ran straight into the fray.

Not feeling like running around in the snow, Victoire went to stand with the small group of adults huddled around a blue flame a little way from the door into the kitchen.

"Hi," greeted Aunt Audrey, as Victoire walked over, and there was a general mumbling of welcome as everyone else looked around to see who the newcomer was. "You aren't going to join the others, then?" Audrey gestured towards Victoire's cousins playing in the garden.

"No, I'm a bit old to be playing with them now."

"Could you tell Ron and George that?" Aunt Hermione asked, glancing over at her husband and brother-in-law hiding behind one of the forts so that no one else could fit behind it. She wore a disapproving look, but the edges of her lips looked like they were trying not to tug upwards into a smile.

Victoire didn't know how to respond to that, so she just gave a brief laugh, and the conversation resumed to what they had been talking about before Victoire joined them.

She did her best to keep up with the conversation, but the adults were talking about some sort of important Ministry thing, and it was clearly confidential by the way they kept saying '_what happened before'_ and '_you know who I'm talking about' _rather than using specifics. Nevertheless, Victoire listened, asking questions here and there when she was confused about something she hoped wasn't too top secret.

This was why Victoire had come to dislike family gatherings. Apart from Dominique, her next oldest relative was Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey's daughter Molly, who was fourteen. The age gap wasn't really that big – only four years – but the difference in maturity at twelve and sixteen was significant, especially when one was running around in the snow throwing snowballs at her younger cousins. This meant that Victoire didn't really have anyone her own age to talk to, and when she talked to the adults they had a habit of treating like a child still. It was frustrating, to say the least.

It was why Victoire had always been relieved when Teddy had joined them for the family gatherings. She had always been able to talk to him. Then she had to go and make him angry with her, so much so that he had barely spoken to her apart from the obligatory small talk for the past six months.

Victoire shifted her feet guiltily at the memory, and then looked around quickly, checking to see if any of the adults had noticed. No one had; they were still engrossed in their conversation. Getting fed up of not being able to properly join in with them talking, Victoire excused herself and went back into the house, wondering if her mother and Gran needed any help in the kitchen.

They didn't. Uncle Percy had appeared and was looking over the pans while Gran set the table, and her mother checked on whatever was cooking in the oven. It was also slightly claustrophobic with only the four of them in there, something that wasn't helped by the steam filling the small room, making it warmer than Victoire felt comfortable in.

Not wanting to stay in the kitchen any longer than necessary, Victoire headed down the hall, wondering where everyone else was. Most of her cousins had been playing in the snow, but there had only been four of her aunts and uncles outside, and the house was too quiet for the rest of her extended family to be in here.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps, and Louis ran past her, heading towards the kitchen, by the looks of it. He had come from the direction of the living room, and that was where Victoire was now headed, thinking that it was a good sign that there would be people there. As she walked, Victoire faintly heard her mother shout at Louis for running inside.

She was right. In the living room, Victoire found her dad, Dominique, and Andromeda Tonks. Her heart beat a little faster with the knowledge that, seeing as Andromeda was here, Teddy was most likely around somewhere, even if he was avoiding her. Unless he'd refused to come with his Gran, which was something Victoire could never see him doing.

"Hello, Victoire," greeted Andromeda as she entered the room and sat down on one of the old armchairs, which sank a good few inches at the addition of her weight. "How has school been?"

"It's ok, I've got some essays to write over the holidays."

"Ah, yes. I remember Teddy's workload picking up when he started his N.E.W.T.s. What subjects have you carried on with?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration, and Charms."

The conversation carried on with Andromeda questioning Victoire on her studies (she was consistently getting Exceeds Expectations, with one or two Acceptables), and what she was going to do once she had left Hogwarts (Victoire wanted to become a Healer). It was a bit tedious for Victoire, who had similar conversations with the majority of her relatives and parents' friends ever since she came home for the holidays, but Victoire tried to not let her annoyance show; she genuinely liked Andromeda and knew that she was only expressing an interest in what she was doing. When Victoire mentioned that she wanted to be a Healer, Andromeda started talking about her own time working at St. Mungo's, which meant that all Victoire had to do was look interested and nod in the gaps in her speech.

Andromeda had just asked Victoire whether she wanted to specialise in any type of magical medicine when loud noises coming from the kitchen seemed to indicate that a herd of angry Hippogriffs had been let into the house. At the same time, Uncle Percy popped his head around the door, announcing that lunch was ready.

The four of them followed Percy back to the kitchen, where a table the length of the room had been constructed. The source of the noise quickly became apparent: Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, their son James, Aunt Angelina, her son Fred, and Teddy had entered, all dripping wet and covered in snow. Through the window, Victoire could see a line of broomsticks propped up against the wall of the house; it looked as if the six of them had been out for a morning game of Quidditch.

Victoire sat down at the table, watching the adults who had been outside use their wands to dry themselves and the crowd of children, who were now scrambling to get inside to eat. Soon, there was a pile of hats, scarves, and gloves at the kitchen door, everyone was seated, and Gran was levitating the bowls and plates of food to the table.

Lunch was a cramped affair, with elbows knocking your neighbour's, and plates of food zooming around so that everyone could have some of everything. Somehow, Victoire had ended up sitting next to Teddy, and she tried her best to avoid hitting him with her elbow, but she wasn't very successful. There was an awkward moment when they had both reached for the nearby gravy boat at the same, their hands banging into each other, and they had each insisted on the other taking it first, until Teddy grabbed it and poured the gravy onto Victoire's plate for her. Victoire mumbled a thank you, feeling her face heat up, and made a conscious effort to avoid looking at Teddy from then onwards.

Finally, dessert had been served, and the now empty plates proved its excellence. The younger children were becoming restless, wanting to go back outside and play, while the adults stared out the window at the light snow shower that had started during lunch, unwilling to move after eating too much.

It took a while, but the crowd sat around the table eventually began to dissipate, helped by the chorus of whining children. Victoire was roped into helping to clear the table, despite the fact that there were plenty of overage adults who could do it with a flick of their wand. When Victoire pointed this out, her mother shot her a look that would make the Minister of Magic cower, and she shot out of her chair, picking up the plates nearest to her.

Fortunately, once Victoire's mother had left the room, Aunt Ginny winked at Victoire, and, with a wave of her wand, the plates had vanished from the table and appeared in a pile next to the sink, where Hermione was overlooking the dishes as they washed themselves. Hermione made a disapproving sound and rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Thanks," Victoire said, passing Ginny on her way outside, and grabbing her coat that had been hung up by the door.

"No problem," said Ginny, smirking. Victoire felt like she was missing out on some inside joke, but ignored it, focussing on the more pressing issue at hand.

Which was, of course, that she had decided that she would speak to Teddy properly today whether it killed her or not. The present wasn't much, but she thought that it at least counted as a gesture of goodwill, that could perhaps make a crack in the wall that had sprung up between them.

Victoire hurried outside, having heard Teddy volunteer to watch over the kids in the garden earlier. She was surprised to see that he actually was watching over them, rather than joining in. Victoire gathered her courage and walked towards Teddy.

"Hi," she said, when she was near enough for him to hear her. Teddy jumped, and turned towards her. He looked surprised to see her there, and Victoire couldn't decide whether that was a good or bad thing.

"Hi," he said in reply, running a hand through his hair (it was green with purple polka dots, as he had been entertaining the children during lunch) and suddenly looking nervous.

"How's work been?" asked Victoire, determined to hold a conversation with him.

"Not bad, there's not really much to do now it's winter. Just put out food and hope the Snidgets find it." After surprising himself and getting an 'O' in his Care of Magical Creatures N.E.W.T., Teddy had decided that he wanted to continue working in that area, and was now an assistant at the Golden Snidget sanctuary in Somerset. His decision had surprised everyone who had assumed he would join the Ministry, but he had shrugged, said that that was what he wanted to do, and no more had been said on the subject.

Victoire tried to think of something to carry on the conversation, but her knowledge of where he worked, and magical creatures in general, was limited. Instead, she decided to throw caution to the wind.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"What?" Teddy's eyes widened in confusion.

"We haven't spoken properly since… you know… and you haven't even wrote to me. We used to be really good friends. I want us to still be friends, but if you don't then that's fine." Victoire wasn't looking at him now, the courage that she had summoned minutes before seemed to be evaporating fast.

"Vicky, I –"

"It's fine. I got you a Christmas present, I suppose I hoped you'd see it as a peace offering." Victoire reached into her coat pocket, grabbed the small package and letter, and thrust them both into Teddy's hands.

Teddy stared at the immaculately wrapped present in his hand, and Victoire watched him; his face was a mixture of emotions that she couldn't decipher. Silence stretched between them, in which Victoire could feel her heart beating twice as fast as was usual, and she wondered what was going through Teddy's mind.

Suddenly, the silence was broken. Not by Teddy speaking, as Victoire had hoped for, but by a cry from the direction of the snow forts.

Both Victoire and Teddy jumped, startled. Victoire turned to see what had happened, and, seeing the rest of her cousins slowly converging around a crying boy with a mop of auburn hair, immediately started hurrying towards them.

"Hugo! What happened?" Victoire asked as she drew closer.

"We were just playing and one of the snowballs hit him in the face," said Louis. Victoire glanced at him before turning her attention back to Hugo, and could see he looked guilty - Victoire guessed that it was his snowball that had hit Hugo.

"Ok, come on, Hugo. Let's get you inside." Putting her arm around his shoulders so she could guide him, Victoire helped Hugo get up and started walking back inside.

She could feel his shoulders shaking as he tried to suppress his cries, and Victoire squeezed him tighter. Victoire could feel Teddy's gaze on them as she walked Hugo inside. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw him open his mouth to say something, but Victoire didn't stop to check.

Victoire only had to go as far as the living room to find Ron and Hermione; they were gathered with the rest of the adults, and when Victoire entered with Hugo, eyes red and blotchy with tears, Hermione sprang from her seat to see what was wrong. Victoire passed Hugo to his mother, who immediately started asking what was wrong.

"He got snow in his eye, I think," Victoire explained, as Hugo's words were masked by his sniffling. At her words, Hermione pulled out her wand, pointed it at Hugo's eyes, and he immediately stopped crying.

Hermione went back to her seat, taking Hugo with her and sitting him on her lap. Seeing that all the chairs were taken, Victoire sat on the floor, her back against the sofa next to where Uncle Charlie sat.

She could have gone back outside. That would mean having to hear what Teddy had to say, though, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to know. He could say that he didn't think they could be friends anymore, that she could have her present back, and that he didn't want to have to speak to her every time there was a family gathering. Or, he could thank her for the gift, say that yes, he wanted them to be friends, but that that was as far as it could go. Victoire didn't know which option was worse.

When she thought about it, it was ridiculous. Teddy hadn't been speaking to her for over six months, and yet she still couldn't stop thinking about him. She longed for him to treat her as a friend again, and every morning at school she had hoped that an owl would appear, bearing a letter from him. It was stupid, she had decided, for her to want his forgiveness so badly – she had fallen out with friends before and after a few weeks she had either made up with them, or forgotten about them. Teddy had to be the stubborn one.

So instead of going outside to talk to him, and have him potentially reject her for the second time, Victoire sat and pretended to listen to the adult conversation that she barely understood or cared about, all the while thinking of various she could annoy Teddy. She would never carry any of them through, but planning them calmed Victoire, somehow.

Victoire stayed there until it was dark outside, and suggestions of "we should be going home" and "we need to start making tracks" started coming from the adults. Chaos ensued, with everyone making sure they had all of their children, and that they all had their own coats. Victoire tried to stay out of the way so as not to add another body to the crowd in the kitchen. Unfortunately, Teddy seemed to have had the same idea.

"Oh, err… hi," he said, freezing in the doorway to the living room, where Victoire had stayed.

"Hi." Victoire smiled tightly.

Neither spoke for a moment.

"Thanks for the present."

"No problem."

Silence again.

"Vic, I –"

"VICTOIRE!" came her mother's voice from the kitchen, and Victoire, knowing her mother's temper, hurried towards the kitchen, passing Teddy in the doorway.

"See you," she said as she passed.

"Yeah," said Teddy, and then added as an afterthought, "I'll write you."

Victoire waved goodbye, and tried to suppress her smile as she entered the kitchen where her family was waiting to go home.

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><p><strong>R &amp; R :)<strong>


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